Rephotography – a tool for guides

Background

There are many types of climate research conducted in Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund, and on scientific expeditions. However, data that is extrapolated can be difficult to interpret for those not trained in the natural or social sciences.

Rephotography consists of using historical images and retaking a photograph from the exact same position at a different point in time.

Through the project, Kristoffer Barrett Ronning and Eric Schytt Holmlund want to help educate people through a visual process that depicts changes in environmental and climate research.

The project was conducted during the summers of 2019 and 2022, with new photos of sites taken around the same time as the historical photos from the ALVIN database and the Norwegian Polar Institute’s archives.

Rephotography as an educational tool

Rephotography can become a mediating factor regarding the story telling of how the climate is changing as well as a communicating process to demonstrate culture and cultural remains.

Photographs as visual sources function as a testimony to what a place once looked like. Rephotography gives the opportunity to educate visitors through by letting them physically visit a place while visually experience how that place has changed over the course of time.

Another aspect of rephotography is that it transcends language. One is able to understand the degree of change without having to speak the same language as the presenter.


Documentary

“Voice of the glaciers” is an award-winning documentary that follows Kristoffer Barrett Ronning and his team on a scientific expedition documenting the effects of climate change.

Last update: 17. October 2024